» [SYSTEM]: Logout request initiated.
» [Do you wish to Exit Life?] Y/N.
» : Yes
"Avoiding death in a video game by logging out mid-fight. at least, that's what I hoped for..."
"How long have I been repeating this?"
» [INPUT RECEIVED]: Y.
» [ERROR]: Insufficient privileges.
» [LOGOUT DENIED]: Administrator permissions required.
"Just let me go..."
» [SYSTEM]: Logout request initiated.
» [Do you wish to Exit Life?] Y/N.
» : Yes—
» [INPUT RECEIVED]: Y.
» [MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS DETECTED]
» [WARNING]: You do not have the right to log out.
» [ACCESS DENIED]: This world is not yours to leave.
» [SYSTEM RESPONSE]: Resistance logged.
» Punishment pending...
---
Thunder roars around the realm of clouds.
In the middle of a raging storm.
A bloodied man laughed, lying on the cold marble floor of a massive floating golden arena.
On the back of his right wrist was the Blasphemy Crest: a detailed, gold, sword-shaped mark that signified his class.
A Guard. It is what granted him access to his stats, and more importantly, the blessing of the system.
Allowing him to use skills, grow stronger, and level up.
But now—it was glowing red.
» [SYSTEM]: Punishment Protocol Initiated.
» [REASON]: Unauthorized Exit Attempt.
» [EXECUTING SENTENCE]: 3... 2... 1...
"How cruel, no matter how much power I possess."
"In this world, I am nothing more than a caged animal."
» DEBUFF APPLIED: -40% ATK DAMAGE.
» DEBUFF APPLIED: -60% HP reduction.
» DEBUFF APPLIED: +20% Damage Taken from Enemies.
» DEBUFF APPLIED: -20 Sanity.
» [RESTRICTION APPLIED]: LOCKING SECONDARY ARCHETYPE.
"I am a prisoner of the system."
» [WARNING]: You are too afraid, the system now forbids you from feeling emotions.
» [RESTRICTION APPLIED]: Emotional Response Suppressed.
"I can't even mourn my fallen comrades. I can't shed a single tear. The system stripped away the one thing that separates me from artificial intelligence, my last shred of humanity."
» [WARNING]: Sanity approaching unstable levels.
"My sanity, from 70 down to 50: I feel nauseated, and I begin to hallucinate my former allies, all victims of this tower's brutality."
"Yet, I cannot feel a thing towards the things I saw."
---
» [NOTICE]: You brought this upon yourself.
"This is the consequence of the unprepared."
"As my sanity gets lower, my UI has begun to malfunction. it's all red, glitching as it bleeds."
"It's a miracle, that I'm still alive."
"And still... I was the last one standing."
---
» [WARNING]: Enemy Approaching...
Above the reaches of the crying sky, the tower sent him his next challenge.
It descended.
It violently crashed down, landing in the arena with a devastating impact, a sound so loud it sent a sharp pain through the man's ears as dust and debris flew in all directions.
» [EMERGENCY]: Enemy Has Arrived...
"A red-colored name?"
"It must be far above my level."
» [ENEMY DESCRIPTION]: Samson the Flawed.
The Guardian before the terminal—a knight in decaying golden armor. Red flesh laughs visibly through the holes in its plating. Its cape, crimson and old, tells the history of many slain ascendants who managed to reach the summit of the tower.
To ultimately fall to their deaths.
And It wants you to be part of its kill log.
It wields the Heavenly Spear of Midas.
---
"Check Enemy Stats—"
» HP: ??#/#ERROR
» ATK (AD): ??#/#ERROR
» ATK (AP): ??#/#ERROR
» DEF: ??#/#ERROR
» RESISTANCE: ??#/#ERROR
» LEVEL: ??#/#ERROR
» WEAKNESS: ??#/#ERROR
"Its armor on top of it's higher level is preventing me from scanning."
---
"I stood up, I'm sluggish. My black military uniform, once an honorable symbol of the order of the Leviathan, under the command of the Vaxian Army."
"Now, it has been disrespected by my inadequacy."
"Status Check—"
» RACE: Human
» BLASPHEMY CREST: Domination (Vaxian Variant)
» CLASS: Hybrid Guard
» MAIN ARCHETYPE: Elite 2, LEVEL 90, Liberator (Legendary Rarity)
» SECONDARY ARCHETYPE: Elite 1, LEVEL 80, ARTS GUARD (HEROIC RARITY) [RESTRICTED]
» HP: ??#/#ERROR
» ATK (AD): ??#/#ERROR
» ATK (AP): ??#/#ERROR
» DEF: ??#/#ERROR
» RESISTANCE: ??#/#ERROR
» SP: ??#/#ERROR (60/60)
» SANITY: ??#/#ERROR (50/100)
» WEAKNESS: ??#/#ERROR
"As expected, my stats are obscured. In this world, there is no player level as it is tied to the blasphemy crest."
"My primary archetype: Liberator Guard, E2 Level 90 accounts for the majority of my attributes. However, the system has sealed my secondary archetype, along with its corresponding stats and abilities."
"It took me 36 years to get to this point."
"I cannot view my current ATK, but I recall it being relatively low—somewhere around 455 (AD), assuming only my Liberator archetype is active."
"My HP is at around 4000 with the liberator stats alone, but with that -60% reduction, I'm left with around 2400. The system didn't debuff my 500 DEF and with that amount—I can survive at least one hit from that boss."
"But that +20% increased damage taken—it just makes the math harder to think through."
"But the other debuffs, it's equally infuriating."
"-40% ATK, I'm left with around 273 base ATK (AD)."
"Damage calculation is straightforward: [DEF minus attacker's ATK]. If this knight's DEF surpasses my attack, my strikes will barely make a dent—like hitting with a paper towel."
"Since I cannot access my secondary archetype, Arts Guard, which specializes in arts damage, I can only pray to the gods that this enemy's weakness is physical rather than the latter."
---
» [NOTICE]: Samson the Flawed has challenged you to a duel.
"I didn't hesitate to accept, the system graciously prevented me from feeling any hint of fear."
With every movement of the knight, the sky rumbled.
But 'He' stood as the flawed one approach.
"I am Daedalus—"
Title: Patience of a Thousand Gods
» [SYSTEM]: New title granted.
» New Title: Failure of a Thousand Mortals.
---
» [NOTICE]: LIBERATOR PASSIVE ACTIVATED: Tested Patience.
In combat: When SP reaches its maximum value (60/60), consume all SP at once: activate passive ability.
Trait: » Cannot Attack Enemies.
ATK (AD) gradually increases up to +800% over 60 seconds.
Reaction Sensitivity: Heightened.
Taunt Level: MAX — all enemy aggro is focused on Daedalus.
⚠️ Can only attack when skill is activated.
IF: Can defend using blunt force, counted as a valid defense state. If the defense state becomes the aggressor without skill activation, punish the player with 100% increased damage received, and halve HP and DEF for 20 seconds.
⚠️ When ATK (AD) exceeds 400%, [Decisive Retaliation] becomes available.
⚠️ When ATK (AD) exceeds 800%, [Ultimate: Final Glory] becomes available.
⚠️ ATK (AD) is reset upon skill termination (Bypass by unique skill description.)
⚠️ Upon skill end, SP regeneration is significantly accelerated.
» Countdown Begins...
1... 304 Atk+
2... 336 Atk+
3... 368 Atk+
---
"I have no weapon—"
"But I am a Liberator, I don't need one."
The Liberator Aura: A faint golden glow surrounded Daedalus, and its pressure could gradually be felt as his ATK+ began rising to its peak.
Samson the Flawed remained vigilant as it observed Daedalus's SP drop to zero in an instant.
---
» [WARNING]: The Samson the Flawed manifested full killing intent, do you answer with the same gesture? Y/N
»: Yes—
» [BATTLE INITIATED: DUEL - Samson the Flawed vs. DAEDALUS]
4… 400 ATK+
5… 432 ATK+
6… 464 ATK+
Samson suddenly lunged forward with its spear extended like a javelin.
"How very tiring—"
7… 495 ATK+
8... 527 ATK+
Daedalus sidesteps. Barely.
The Heavenly Spear of Midas, a legendary rank cursed weapon, shimmered unnaturally in the storm light.
The spear lunges—
The golden spear grazed a small fabric of daedalus's coat—
9… 559 ATK+
10… 591 ATK+
» [WARNING]: Golden corrosion spreading.
"What is this?!"
Where the spear struck, the patch of his military coat stiffened. Slowly turned to gold.
"I had no choice—"
Daedalus tore the infected cloth mid-motion, flinging it aside.
11... 623 ATK+
12... 655 ATK+
"Tch!"
The spear of Midas, was slammed into the ground next to Daedalus—
A chunk of the floating arena that was touched by the weapon's haft, instantly transmuted into a golden crater followed by a shockwave that nearly sent Daedalus over the edge.
The sound echoed through the sky—
Daedalus braced through the impact and used a dash to stay upright.
13... 687 ATK+
14... 718 ATK+
"How much damage did I take?!"
Not a single HP notification, the system was still glitched—
Samson turned to him—then vanished.
15... 750 ATK+
16... 782 ATK+
"Where are you?!"
He sensed... Death...
17... 814 ATK+
18... 846 ATK+
Daedalus raised his arms in a defensive stance just in time for the spear to come down like a lightning bolt.
But in an instant, The Flawed one appeared beside him—
It was an odd sequence of attacks.
19... 878 ATK+
20... 910 ATK+
The spears come at him—in thousand silhouettes, Daedalus knew it would be unwise to try and deflect every hit with his bare hands.
21... 941 ATK+
Daedalus gambled, rather than parrying the cursed tip of the spear and risking turning golden, he combined back-stepping maneuvers while misdirecting the spear's golden shaft.
They were trading blows faster than the eye could follow, faster than the system could render.
22... 973 ATK+
"?!"
» [WARNING]: Samson is enraged by your actions; he sees your defensive behavior as a shameful display.
23... 1005 ATK+
The Liberator's golden aura was slowly intensifying.
» [WARNING]: Samson felt threatened by your growing power.
» [ALERT]: Samson the Flawed has vanished.
Daedalus kept his guard up, his eyes looking in every direction...
Expecting a spear at any angle...
24... 1037 ATK+
He made one crucial mistake, he lacked information about his enemy.
The knight didn't teleport or blink...
It turned invisible while mimicking the visuals and audio of a blink/teleport ability.
» [ALERT]: FATAL BLOW DETECTED!
25... 1069 ATK+
Daedalus couldn't see his enemy, but he felt it.
The cold sensation of golden steel caressing his left cheek—
Gold bloomed where the blade touched—slowly spreading across, as a solidifying golden crust can be felt growing on his skin.
Like a tumor.
Daedalus staggered—
» [ALERT]: OFF GUARD!
26... 1101 ATK+
27... 1132 ATK+
Every tick brings him closer to salvation.
Samson only needed to hit him once with the spear and the fight was already over.
And then...
Daedalus felt it—
A sudden impact—as Samson, planted his fist into the gut of Daedalus like a cannonball.
Followed by an explosion of air—
His body skidded across the marble floor, breaking through columns of golden stone as he crushed through the architecture violently—stopping his momentum.
» [DAMAGE TAKEN]: -1,823 HP
» Remaining HP: ???
» Estimated Remaining HP: ~577
An excruciating pain flowed within his battered body, his face contorted in agony.
He can't breathe properly—
His ribs were fractured—
A trail of blood was seen in his wake.
"Endure—"
The sturdy body of the liberator won't easily forfeit to such injuries.
He stood up, torn off the flesh of his left cheek while making sure his fingers didn't make contact with the infected flesh to prevent the golden Curse from spreading, exposing his teeth.
» [WARNING]: Self-inflicted wound, damage dealt -200 HP, bleed status initiated.
» Please seal your wound.
» Remaining HP: ???
» Estimated Remaining HP: ~377
He staggered on his feet. Blood in his mouth followed by a blurred vision.
Yet, he can't feel a single emotion—the System still forbids it.
He only felt patience.
28... 1164 ATK+
29... 1196 ATK+
"It's halfway there—"
But his patience was tested...
"This foe must die..."
30... 1228 ATK+
» [SYSTEM]: 400% ATK reached.
A Liberator skill can now be activated.
The air around Daedalus hiss—
The growing aura of the liberator—
Will soon liberate the knight.
» [SYSTEM]: Samson...
» [WARNING]: THE KNIGHT WANTS TO KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!
The knight violently lunged forward, spear pointed at Daedalus's chest.
"Activate Liberator Skill—"
---
» [SYSTEM]: Activation Confirmed
» [UNLOCKED]: Revealing ATK+ Stat to Daedalus
» A golden light resembling a long sword manifested in Daedalus's right hand.
» [EXALTED WEAPON]: Dawn Bringer
---
» [SYSTEM]: Initiating...
» Granted Transcendent State Tier 1 [400%] [BUFF]
» ATK (AD) increased further by 100%
» ATK SPEED/Movement speed, Set to » hypersonic—
» ATK Now counts as 'Light Damage.' / Still counts as AD.
» Attacks twice consecutively—
» 10x Critical Damage Multiplier
» Can blink, without losing stamina
» IF: an elite/boss enemy has been defeated while the skill is active, it keeps the current ATK+ stat.
» IF: failing to kill an enemy—reset ATK+ stat.
» Skill can be halted at any time while active, Remaining duration can be used to charge up a powerful light attack.
» Duration: 30 Seconds
» Final Attack Stat: 2456 ATK [AD]
» [400% Liberator Skill] » [Decisive Retaliation]
The Arena Trembled.
Prologue 1 End.